Part 2

Ah...I left you all hanging.  I am having some car drama and trying to buy a new car, which is not fun.  BUT...it sure has given me some blog fodder.  You'll have to wait for that later, though.  Now more about my trip.

So, we stopped at hotel for the night and all was uneventful.  We woke up the next morning and drove...and drove....and drove.....We passed St. Mary's (is that in GA or FL, I can never remember).  When I was a child we visited friends there and we stayed in an old haunted hotel.  I wanted to stop just out of nostalgia and walk around since visiting there is one of  my few, very clear, childhood memories.  However, when you have to drive for hours and hours and you have limited time, stopping for a trip down memory lane just isn't feasible.  Somewhere around St. Mary's is the state border.  We were finally crossing into the Sunshine State.

I have been traveling to Florida for 18 years now.  I have flown a few times, but for the most part I have made that drive down 95 and two things never change.  The first is that the minute, no...the second you cross that border the air and light around you changes.  It is amazing.  The air seems more tropical and the sun seems brighter.  I still have not figured out how that happens.

But the other thing that happens is we always stop at the Welcome Center Rest Area.  There are big signs at the entrance and exit of the rest area that let you know you have indeed made it to the land of snowbirds, sunshine and citrus groves.   I have never once stopped at that rest area and not seen a line of people waiting their turns to take a picture in front of the signs.  This time there was a very Italian looking family from New Jersey standing around posing in front of the sign.  Next in line was a Mennonite family of 8 in full dress chatting about just how excited they were to be there.  Only in Florida....

We stopped at Sonny's Barbecue since we don't have them where we live and E had the ribs.  Something about the ribs set off a horribly allergic reaction in her face and she was bumpy and rashy for the next 3 days.  It was very strange since we ate there again on our way home and she was just fine.  Sonny's is GOOD!!!  Rash is BAD!!!  I, of course, was overly concerned because of Hubby's allergy to himself.

Once back in the car we were talking happily about how we were making such good time and should be less than 2 hours away from Hubby's family when we hit the outskirts of Orlando.  We saw a traffic sign that said "Next 15 miles=50 Minutes" and just went "oh shit!"  Traffic came to a stop.  We thought it must have been caused by construction or an accident...something!  It was 2 in the afternoon so it wasn't rush hour.  What the heck, we kept wondering.

It was Disney traffic!  It took us 2 hours to make it from one side of Orlando to the other.  By the time we hit I-4 I was actually rocking back and forth in my seat trying to talk myself out of just getting out of the car and walking until Hubby caught up to me.  To be so close and then get stopped like that was awful.  The line of traffic exiting off the Disney and Universal exits was stunning.  How do people who live in Orlando deal with it?

But we made it.  We celebrated a late Christmas with Hubby's family that night and all was well. 

Next Stop:  Harry Potter's World of Wizarding.